LONDON, March 26. /ITAR-TASS/. The British Foreign Office favors direct negotiations between Moscow and Kiev on the situation in Ukraine, a ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

The diplomat said the Foreign Office welcomed recent informal consultations of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia and renewed calls for direct talks between the two governments.

The Foreign Office also warned Russia against further destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, saying that otherwise Great Britain and Europe were ready to approve a new package of measures against Moscow.

Lavrov and Deshchytsia held consultations on Monday in the Hague, on the sidelines of an international summit on nuclear security.

“Deshchytsia asked for a meeting, we discussed current affairs and tasks which, in our opinion, must be taken into regard for overcoming the internal crisis in Ukraine,” Lavrov said after the talks. “We told him what steps, in our view, the leaders appointed by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) should take to finally establish a normal nationwide dialogue,” he said.

At a separate news conference Deshchytsia, for his part, voiced readiness for talks “in the format of any contact group on crisis settlement”.